The Orthodox Herald

An
ecclesiastical divorce may be granted after a civil decree has been issued. However,
the parish priest must make every effort to reconcile the couple and avert a
divorce.

Should the
priest fail to bring about a reconciliation, the party seeking the
ecclesiastical divorce should address a petition to the Ecclesiastical Court of
the Archdiocese stating the grounds for such an action. The petition must be
accompanied by:

A) the Decree Absolute of the civil
divorce;

B) a copy/certificate of the ecclesiastical
marriage which is to be dissolved; and

C) the set fees of the Ecclesiastical Court.

For more
Information please contact the Secretary of the Ecclesiastical Court,
The Revd. George Zafeirakos, Tel: 020-7485 2149

Statistical
Note: For the years 1989-2008 and up to October 2009 there
was a total of 1736 applications for Divorce. Most of the applicants were under
thirty-five years of age. The reasons given were lack of co-operation and
extra-marital affairs.

"The
Orthodox Church permits divorce and remarriage, quoting as its authority the
text of Matthew 19:9, where Our Lord says: "If a man divorces his wife,
for any cause other than unchastity, and marries another, he commits
adultery." Since Christ allowed an exception to His general ruling
about the indissolubility of marriage, the Orthodox Church also is willing to
allow an exception. Certainly Orthodoxy regards the marriage bond as in
principle lifelong and indissoluble, and it condemns the breakdown of marriage
as a sin and an evil. But while condemning the sin, the Church still desires to
help the sinners and to allow them a second chance. When, therefore, a marriage
has entirely ceased to be a reality, the Orthodox Church does not insist on the
preservation of a legal fiction. Divorce is seen as an exceptional but
necessary concession to human sin; it is an act of oikonomia ('economy'
or dispensation) and of philanthropia (loving kindness). Yet although
assisting men and women to rise again after a fall, the Orthodox Church knows
that a second alliance can never be the same as the first; and so in the
service for a second marriage several of the joyful ceremonies are omitted, and
replaced by penitential prayers.

Orthodox
Canon Law, while permitting a second or even a third marriage, absolutely
forbids a fourth. In theory the Canons only permit divorce in cases of
adultery, but in practice it is sometimes granted for other reasons as well.

One point
must be clearly understood: from the point of view of Orthodox theology a
divorce granted by the State in the civil courts is not sufficient. Remarriage
in church is only possible if the Church authorities have themselves granted a
divorce."